by O J Barré
They were about to climb aboard when a second car shot into the station. The helpless Dracos stared as it kept going, and sped away into the dark void, rear lights blinking haphazardly. The rumbling settled into a low vibration, then faded in the distance.
**
Brian and Ethnui rose from their crouched positions in the back of the car.
“That was close,” he shouted over the clatter.
They peered cautiously through the dirty back window at the four Dracos gaping in surprise. Not one of them had reached for a weapon. The car swayed as they rounded a curve and plunged into darkness.
“Wow, that could have been really bad.” Brian plopped into a seat, grateful for the cabin lights even though they were dim. It was colder now they were away from the vent. He untied his jacket from around his waist and tugged it on.
Ethnui settled beside him, cap askew. Had her horns grown since the other day at the compound? It seemed an eternity, though it had been only a few days ago.
“Do you think we’ll be safe now?”
Ethnui shrugged. “I hope so. That was a good plan, Brian.”
His chest swelled with pride, then quickly deflated. “It could just as easily have gotten us killed. I didn’t know they were so close.” He averted his eyes. There was something in hers that terrified him. But what was she was saying?
“…it’s a good thing the Dracos didn’t know of our presence. We wouldn’t have made it past them.” Her big eyes blinked.
Brian’s gaze went to the back window. The corridor was dark, the only light shed by the rusty car. “You’re right, of course. What now?”
Ethnui sighed. “Now, we keep going. That magma could break through any minute. Hopefully, it won’t short out the power to the tracks.”
Brian peered into the oncoming darkness and shivered.
**
“What in Hades?” Inanna growled. She was pissed they had missed out on a ride. She fingered the fresh scar across her right brow and herded the others onto the car. Maw and his warriors would be here soon. If the magma didn’t get them first.
A sudden blast rocked the car and sent her flying. Dislodged boulders and debris crashed around them, striking the metal roof and bouncing off. Inanna ignored the pain tearing through her arms and chest, and struggled upright to see Maw and his warriors pour through the enlarged hole.
“Get down,” she hissed. “It’s Maw.”
In desperation, she punched the button for the next station. The chute whirred, and the car came to life.
“Halt, deserters!” a gruff voice commanded, and shots rang out, exploding against the car.
“Go, go, GO!” Nergal barked.
The car crept forward.
“Stop!” Maw roared. With a mighty leap, he crossed the station and pried the door open to stand in the opening. The car moved at a snail’s pace.
“By command of Warlord Shibboleth, you are all under arrest.”
Ishkur leapt forward, weapon leveled on the Draco. Inanna pressed a button and the door slammed into Maw, sending him backward onto the landing.
“Go, go, go!” Nergal yelled again. Inanna stabbed the station button repeatedly.
The car shuddered as the rat-a-tat-tat of automatic weapons struck the side. A window shattered, raining shards of glass upon the cowering refugees. The firing continued peppering the car as it picked up speed.
Gingerly, Inanna crawled over glass to peer out the back window. Maw leapt from the landing and chased them down the rails, firing his weapon. But the car was faster, and Maw grew smaller until she could no longer see her litter-father’s dastardly enforcer.
There was a roar behind her and a long, low keening howl. She wheeled to see Nergal gather the doctora in his lap and cradle her to him. His keen wrenched Inanna’s normally-stony heart. She rushed to him and bent to check Magdalena’s pulse.
“She’s alive, Nergal,” Inanna said softly, rocking with the chute car. “But she’s losing blood. Ishkur,” she barked, “see if there’s a medi-kit in the forward cabinet. Nergal, can you lay Magda here on the floor?” She swept shards of glass out of the way, and he gently lowered the doctora to her back. Violet blood covered her chest.
Inanna swiftly found the bullet holes. “Looks like it went straight through. Luckily, it missed her heart, but blood is pouring from both the entry and exit wounds.” She extracted a wad of gauze from the emergency kit and applied it to the hole in her back. Taking Ishkur’s claw, she pressed it tight against the wound.
Looking into his rheumy eyes, she instructed, “Hold this and apply pressure. We’ve got to stop the bleeding or we’ll lose her. And that’s not an option. We need her connection to get us out of this mess.” Inanna placed a wad of gauze over the hole in Magda’s chest and pressed hard.
“Let me.” Nergal moved to the doctora and pushed Ishkur aside. Wincing, he lifted the petite Draca onto his lap and hugged her close, holding the bandages in place.
Inanna swept glass from a bench and sagged into it to pick shards from her arms and chest. Ishkur dragged himself from the floor with a grunt and settled beside her to remove a flask from his belt. Nergal clung to Magdalena, as the chute car sped through the dark tunnels.
**
While Brian and Ethnui slept, Hamilton searched the Otherworld, frantic for news of his daughter. He could feel her presence, but nothing more. He made brief contact with Hope at Wren’s Roost and learned that Emily had contacted them via the Otherworld. Lugh, Hope, and the resurrected Cu were preparing to fly to Beli at her behest.
That was enough for Hamilton. Excited, he returned to the rocking car. He studied the fierce Fomorian, fast asleep beside Brian. A warrior-type, she’d taken a shine to the boy and seemed committed to getting them back to AboveEarth, despite having an enslaved father in UnderEarth. Ham admired her courage. Brian could do a lot worse.
Meltdown
Maw roared at the rapidly-receding car. Rage coursed through him. They had been so close. He wasn’t used to being thwarted, and this devil-spawn Nergal had slipped through his claws again. He pivoted and loped back to the station where his soldiers milled on the platform, waving to him frantically.
Bred more for brawn, than brains, these young recruits couldn’t hold a thought between them. Maw leapt from the rails to the platform. The ten Dracos saluted, fist to chest. Ignoring the gesture, he yanked the closest up by his neck.
“What is it this time, you moron?” He itched to take his head off. Instead, he shoved him backward, bowling over two others. “Speak!”
The least of the warriors shouldered past the others. Saluting, she took a step closer. “Sir, it’s the magma. It has punched through the tunnel. I don’t believe we can get out the way we came.”
Beneath their feet, a rumble began. Another chute car? Maw turned to peer up both ends of the tunnel. He detected no lights, but the rumble grew, vibrating the ground.
A thrill ran through Maw. Another car was coming. He strode to the keypad and the recruits parted to let him pass, each as incompetent as the last. Maw resisted the urge to slit every one of the idiot’s throats.
The rumble increased to a roar, a car approaching from the lower chute to his right. The inept Dracos shouted something he couldn’t discern. He leaned further from the platform trying to see the oncoming car. The temperature spiked. An acrid odor assaulted Maw’s nostrils. The chute was on fire.
Turning, he plowed through the Dracos and dove for the opening to the outer tunnel. As the magma roared through the chute, it expanded to fill every crack and crevice, incinerating everything in its path.
Air Dragon
a-Ur exited the vortex upside-down in a cloud of déjà vu. As the dragon flies, he was near the Atlanta cemetery, where a-Ur had awakened three fortnights ago. For the life of him, he still couldn’t remember how or why he had ended up encased in stone—or who had imprisoned him there.
His search for answers had sent him to Emrys, on the coast of Wales. Now he was back across the Atl
antic. But the journey to Zephyr Cay had taken too long. Each moment wasted meant greater peril to Earth and humanity. The accursed wormhole had been unreliable, and twice flung him out in random places. So, a-Ur had flown much of the way.
Rain beat against his plate-sized scales. The front blew northwest, the direction he was headed. He rested inside the billowing thunderheads, glad to be carried by the winds for a while.
The question of his missing memory troubled a-Ur. It was worse than waking half his normal size and being trapped in marble combined. Dragons had immense brain capacity, especially air dragons. As a race, they carried all of Earth’s collective memories. Now a chunk of a-Ur’s was gone.
He flapped weary wings to right his bearings and jigged to dodge a lightning bolt. Back on course, he enjoyed the sensation of electrically-charged rain scouring his armor. a-Ur had enjoyed plenty of precipitation since the Awen had released him. The British Isles were awash in floodwaters; and in Beli, high in the mountains of Snowdonia, snow still blanketed their meeting place.
It was warmer there than a-Ur remembered, and that was concerning too. But more troublesome was the absence of dragons. He’d hoped to rally those wintering in the mountains, but none were to be found.
No dragons. No druids. No humans. And no sign of recent habitation.
Bewildered, a-Ur had flown south, passing high above the old villages. All he had encountered were structures similar to the modern, insensible ones crowding Atlanta.
The wind shifted, and an air pocket dropped a-Ur several meters. He recovered and discovered he had bypassed Zephyr Cay.
Digging in with his wings, a-Ur reversed direction and dove seaward. He broke through the clouds at a roar, juking when a lightning bolt sizzled past. It struck the waves with a massive clap, sending a waterspout upward toward a-Ur. The storm was more dangerous than he’d thought.
Weary to the bone, the dragon battled on, rain lashing him in sheets and obscuring his keen vision. When he sensed land, he dove and hit a narrow hardpack at breakneck speed. He tumbled head-over-tail, skidding to a stop against a stand of battered palms. The eye of the storm wobbled and careened off to the north.
Lifting his bedraggled head from wet sand, a-Ur spit out grit and let the deluge wash it from his mouth and eyes. Able to see again, he realized he had landed in front of a low, wooden building. He collapsed in a fit of exhausted laughter. He had landed in the perfect spot. The Awen was inside. And two Keepers weathered nearby.
**
“Is that dragon laughter?” Emily rose from the chair. “It doesn’t sound like Talav or Ooschu.” She struggled with the latch and pried the shutters open to peer through the rain. A dragon with gossamer wings and a horned head stood on the beach.
“It is a-Ur!” The air dragon had grown substantially and was now the size of a large truck. Emily had first encountered him in Oakland Cemetery, the day after her weather-calming success at Jocko’s.
a-Ur preened, bathing in the downpour like a bird. Of the dragons, he was definitely the most formidable. Not counting Tiene. Thoughts of the fire dragon still gave her the willies. Did male dragons, like humans, tend to be the larger of the species? Notwithstanding the women who towered over most men. Aunt Morgan for one.
“What could they possibly be laughing at in this storm?” Khenko appeared from the hallway, damp and disheveled.
“It’s not them.”
“That’s not a dragon? It sure sounds like one.” Khenko’s smoky eyes widened beneath the doo-rag he’d wrapped around his head.
“Oh, yeah, it’s a dragon. Just not Talav or Ooschu.” Emily scooched over to make room for the tall man. He wiped away the fog and bent low to press his nose against the pane.
“Well, I’ll be.” The reverence was unmistakable. “Another dragon.” Khenko glanced down at Emily and his eyes were big. “That’s one helluva big drake. He takes up most of the beach.”
“It’s a-Ur. He about scared the pee out of me in Atlanta. He was smaller then, and made of marble. Or rather, encased in marble.”
“Huh?” Khenko’s brows knit into one.
**
a-Ur stopped laughing and scrambled to attention. A slip of a woman descended the stairs two at a time and strode toward him. This time, she recognized a-Ur and no hint of fear clouded the Awen’s demeanor. His heart thrilled. One less obstacle to overcome.
With more reservation, a lanky man trailed behind her. The rain beat against their thin, plastic slickers as they came to a halt less than a meter away.
“Hail, Draig a-Ur, Keeper of the Air.”
a-Ur trembled in excitement. He bowed deeply.
“Hail, Awen, Queen of the Druids.” He straightened and blinked rain from his eyes. “I am relieved and honored, Dragon Master, that you remember me. Much you have grown since that day in the cemetery. I have come with news. And am at your service.” He bowed again and settled on his haunches, front legs splayed out before him.
“This is Khenko, friend of Corr.” The Awen gestured, and the tall man stepped in line beside her. “He rescued me from the Otherworld, and is nursing me to health while I train.”
The man looked awestruck, as well he should. Not many lived to see a dragon and remember. The healer bowed with a radiant smile.
“Hail, Draig a-Ur, Keeper of the Air.”
“Hail Khenko, Dragon Seer and friend of Corr. The world owes you for saving our Awen. But where are my other Keepers?” From the dense jungle surrounding the building, the earth dragon emerged.
“Here, Brother,” the familiar voice rumbled.
The man’s eyes widened and cut to the Awen. The rain lessened, calming to a patter.
Swishing a tail that had sprouted nubby horns since the last a-Ur had seen her, Talav scampered to his side and lowered her head. They bumped brows, his rigid horns brushing her new, supple ones.
“How different you are, Talav. You’ve grown fins. And horns.”
“And I can swim.” She rushed into the surf, splashing water everywhere.
When she didn’t reemerge, a-Ur readied to save her. Earth dragons don’t swim. Meters out, she rose from the surf, flipped an air somersault, and slid back beneath the heaving surface. a-Ur’s jaw fell open. Never in his memory had he known Talav to swim. Always she had remained close to the earth. Just as all dragons adhered to their respective realms.
Talav crested the waves, abreast with a second dragon.
“Ooschu!” a-Ur trumpeted.
Sunbeams broke through the receding clouds, setting the Water Keeper’s aqua scales ashimmer.
“Brother!” she called in a voice as liquid as her element. Ooschu sloshed to shore.
Talav hung back, undulating waist-deep in the rolling waves and throwing off sparks of colored light.
a-Ur’s delight grew. He’d found the Awen and two of the Keepers. Now to get them back to Beli posthaste.
Ooschu plodded toward him across the rain-hardened sand. a-Ur stared. Since when did a water dragon feel comfortable on land?
“I know, right?” Ooschu laughed. “Talav taught herself to swim, so I had to learn to walk. Turns out, it’s easy.”
To prove her point, she scratched off and dashed around the building, appearing moments later on the other side, trailing palm fronds and mahogany leaves.
Unease settled in a-Ur’s craw. Something peculiar was at play here.
**
Emily smiled as the three dragons greeted one another. Not often had she seen such immense respect. There was much she could learn from them.
“Indeed, deary.” Talav wheeled toward Emily. “That is why you are here, rather than with your druids. Any progress with transfiguration?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t you read my mind?” Emily hated it when they did that.
a-Ur roared and slammed his tail onto the beach, shaking the trees and making the backwash dance. Emily squeezed her legs together to hold back the pee.
“We have urgent matters to attend.” a-Ur announced
“More important than the Awen’s training?” Ooschu protested, unfazed by a-Ur’s temper. “There’s much she’s yet to learn.”
a-Ur’s face horns quivered. “Let me share my news. Our victory depends on more than skill. The dragons must assemble or Earth is doomed. I flew straight from Wales, and the outlook is grim.” A chill settled upon Emily.
“Beli has been forsaken. It lies in shambles; the dragons scattered far and wide. We must go now, raise the city before it’s too late. There, Awen will regain her powers and call the dragons. Only then will we be able to stave off whatever Darkness threatens Earth.”
“But, don’t you think that’s unrealistic?” Khenko scoffed. “How do you plan to restore a nonexistent city? And how will that return Emily’s powers? Do you also think taking Emily to Wales will right all that’s wrong in the world?”
“You make that sound like a bad thing,” Emily snickered, then eyed the air dragon warily. The medicine man smirked and lightly punched her arm.
a-Ur groaned. “Please. This is serious.”
Ooschu and Talav snapped to attention. Emily giggled. The dragons’ “tricksy-effect” and their perpetually-sunny dispositions often managed to override her melancholic tendencies.
“Amen for that,” Talav sniffed.
“Get out of my head. It’s rude, Talav. I don’t go poking around in yours.”
a-Ur stuck his formidable nose in Emily’s face. “Well, you could. And you should.”
Emily couldn’t help trembling. “I don’t read minds.” Which wasn’t exactly true. She had heard others’ thoughts lately. Not all the time. But now and again.
“It’s excellent training.” a-Ur whipped his head toward Talav and Ooschu. “Transfiguring is a good skill, but why do you not teach her to listen?”
“There’s been little time,” Talav huffed. “And this one balks at every turn.”
“Aw, come on, Talav,” Ooschu snorted. “The girl’s not so bad. You make it sound like she’s the worst Awen in history. Considering she’s crammed several decades of knowledge and training into a few months, I think we should cut her some slack.”